I don't watch old ND highlights, but I didn't realize that they used to have end zone art in South bend. I guess they prefer that everyone thinks those diagonal lines in the end zones have been there since the days of Rockne.

..talking about this on espn radio (on my way to pick up chinese...i told the guy my order, he grabbed it and promptly spilled THE ENTIRE ORDER on the ground. took another 10 minutes, but i did squeeze 2 egg rolls and a large noodles out of him), and was dying. dan patrick was killin' 'em.

More seriously, though, I would love to see a movie about Shawn Hunwick, a true "Rudy" type who actually accomplished something in backstopping us to an unexpected conference title. Too bad college hockey isn't a big-name enough sport.

I must be older than I thought cuz I remember that ugly ass end zone art.

Truth be told, growing up in Southern California, my family and my best friend's family were the biggest Notre Dame honks on the west coast. His brother eventually walked on and played QB for the Irish. I wised up and became a leader and best.

On a related note, does anyone know where to find a reliable article on how ND used to cheat during the Rockne days and why Yost was against them. I have a buddy who is a Wolverine down there right now and has been dealing with a week of pure "Yost was a racist and anti-papist."

Well, the dude's a major opportunist who turned a pretty meaningless (not to mention common) story into a career and he's allegedly a drunk so I'm not totally surprised Domers hate him and his movie. Especially considering how many recruits cite it as the reason they picked Notre Dame.

I think finding Rudy inspiring requires a total lack of understanding about walk ons (and I'm not talking about the Brian Griese variety) and how prevalent they are. There are hundreds of Rudy's every year in college football, some of them with more compelling stories. There was a walk on at a college in South Carolina last year who was 40 and had served in the military for 20 years. Remember that reporter from USC's student paper who walked on for an article and actually made the team? Those are a lot better than the Rudy's story. In fact, one of the things that made Rudy's story so interesting was his age... he was 27 when he graduated from Notre Dame... and yet the movie doesn't even bother with that angle.

The movie/legend weren't based on that one play. If you think so, you missed the whole point of the film. The inspiring part of the story was the passion for football and the persistence of the player to achieve his goal of playing for Notre Dame.

And the fact that he didn't play much (unlike Jordan Kovacs) only highlights how impressive that persistence/passion was: he went through all the blood, sweat, and tears for just a tiny sliver of glory. Yeah, it would be a great story if someone worked hard and became a superstar or a millionaire. But that movie was a celebration of the regular Joes and benchwarmers who treasure their moment in the sun for the rest of their lives.

I'm not a big fan of the movie Rudy. I've seen it multiple times, but that's mainly because when I used to substitute teach, it was a frequent "lesson plan" for teachers. But I'm not biased enough against all things Notre Dame to diminish the relevance/importance/significance of the story.

The Ernie Davis story in The Express is nearly completely true (except for adding in the game at WV that was actually a home game, and unnecessarily changing the scores of some of the games for some odd reason).